The Nokia Lumia 1020 has one of the best cameras on a mobile phone, and can only really be matched by bulky devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, which is really more camera than phone.

That’s of course the unbiased view, but not one we really expect a iPhone fan site to express. The Nokia Lumia 1020’s camera is however so good that no other conclusion is possible.

iSource compared the most popular phone camera in the world to the best phone camera, and came to the following conclusion:

At the end of the day, the Nokia Lumia 1020 clearly outperforms the iPhone 5. But that really shouldn’t come as any surprise. The 1020 has vastly superior specs, and it is technically a generation ahead of the 5. However, I wouldn’t expect the coming 5S to be a massive leap forward, so this is still a valid comparison.

The iPhone 5 actually holds its own in daylight shots taken in ideal conditions, and outperforms the 1020 in panoramas, as well as general color saturation. The inclusion of an HDR mode also helps the 5 out in situations with difficult exposures. The iPhone is also capable of shooting photos in faster succession than the 1020, which can actually be quite slow when producing high-res images. It can also shoot pictures while taking video, which the 1020 currently can’t.

However, the 1020 is still the superior camera in every other respect. Because of the 35 or 38 megapixel high resolution photos that the Pro Cam app produces, the 1020 is capable of virtually lossless 6X zoom. It can also zoom while shooting video. Also, the flash and focus lamp on the 1020 give it the ability to take usable photos indoors, and the manual adjustments available in Pro Cam make other low light and specialty shots that would be impossible for other smartphone camera possible. The 2-stage dedicated camera button, true optical image stabilization, and optional Camera Grip just add icing to the cake.

So, while the iPhone 5 does have a few advantages, as well as a wealth of third-party camera and photo and video editors, the Lumia 1020 is still the winner of this camera showdown any way you slice it.